I started gymnastics when I was four, and enjoyed both artistic and acrobatic gymnastics. On starting high school, I found it more difficult to find the time for training so ended up taking a 10 year gap. It was Michaelmas term last year when I saw the opportunity to get involved with gymnastics again for Cuppers – a chance to have a bit of fun and represent my college (go Univ!). What started as a one -off chance to have a bit of fun ended up turning into a re-found passion for gym when I was selected for the Varsity 2020 B team competition against Cambridge.

My favourite thing about OUGym is definitely the friendly atmosphere, so anyone of any ability is welcomed and made to feel part of the club. I really appreciated this being 10 years out of practice having lost a lot of my skills I had taken for granted when I was little!

A normal training session for me, after a lot of warming up, usually starts with some floor skills followed by a bit of beam or vault. In the run up to Varsity it was really good to practice each apparatus together as a team so that we could discuss routines and have a bit of a catch up too! I would say that anyone wanting to try gym or get back into it after a bit of experience should come and try a session with OUGym – there’s great facilities and training sessions and plenty of opportunity for starting from the basics.

Of course, balancing any extracurricular activity with the academic workload of a medic takes quite a bit of organisation and thinking through – but it is definitely possible! I would say that having a regular routine of going to gym, scheduling the time to train and getting away from studying actually motivates me to work beforehand so that I can enjoy myself and make the most of each session.

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As well as training, there are plenty of social events throughout the year with OUGym. One of my favourites was the women’s team social before Varsity. I was knee-deep in coursework at the time, and it was the perfect thing to take my mind off work for a few hours! The post-training casual meals together have been great fun too. All in all, I’ve had great fun with OUGym and can’t wait for what next year brings.